Thomas Holcroft

Holcroft, Thomas (hōlˈkrôft) [key], 1745–1809, English dramatist and novelist. Sometimes credited with having introduced melodrama to the London stage, he is the author of the sentimental play The Road to Ruin (1792). His novels include Alwyn (1780) and two inspired by the revolutionary ideas of his friend William Godwin, Anna St. Ives (1792) and Hugh Trevor (1794–97).